Guest Post with SUBSTITUTE Author Isobel Rey!

We are thrilled to welcome Sourcebooks Casablanca Author Isobel Rey to

Joyfully Reviewed!

She’s driven by his desire…It took all of Alexia’s courage to leave her abusive boyfriend and strike out on her own. When she lands a job at a glamorous sports agency, she thinks she finally has it made. But shy, blonde and beautiful, Alexia is totally unprepared for the fast sexual politics of rich men and ambitious women that is waiting for her. Most of all, she is totally unprepared for her dazzling but damaged new boss, Nathan Fallon.

Substitute is my first novel in this genre and it’s set in a world I know quite a lot about.

I fell into this genre almost by accident. I was out with a friend one evening and she introduced me to a publisher friend of hers. The three of us ended up having dinner and a lot of wine, and I mean a LOT of wine! I was talking about some of the crazy worlds that I get a window into from my job and all the politics and sexual tension that go with them. I work in advertising in London and I’ve worked with clients from all kinds of industries, some of them pretty glitzy and glamorous. And what I’ve learned is, it doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, where you are fro, how much bling you wear or how much money you earn, everyone wants the same things in life and everyone worries about the same things.

Several more glasses of wine into the conversation the publisher asked me to tell her some of the stories of the things I’d seen and heard. Well the stories came tumbling out didn’t they?! There’s a scene in Substitute involving a one way mirror, three guys, two girls and a hidden audience, and many people have asked me how I made that up, and they’re astonished when I explain that I didn’t. And no, before you ask, I wasn’t there, but the story was told to me by someone who was. Even though the book is in the Erotic Romance genre, I think you still have to have a ring of truth in your stories!

I told the publisher how hard it can be for women to navigate the high octane worlds some of our advertising clients live in, when they are looking for love. There are a lot of very good looking, charming guys out there, but they’re usually ambitious and ruthless and don’t want to get tied down.

So the publisher encouraged me to try my hand at capturing one of these worlds in a novel. I already had experience of writing advertising copy and I’ve been writing short stories for years but never done anything with them. I wrote three sample chapters and she loved them. So Isobel the novelist was born, almost overnight! I can’t believe how lucky I am, I guess it was fate having dinner with her that night.

The book is set in the very ambitious and wealthy world of Premiere Sports Promoters. It’s a world populated by superstars with huge egos and wealth, and agencies that manage them.

My heroine Alexia is just coming out of an abusive relationship when she runs into an old friend who gets her a job at the agency where she works. I’ve been asked if she was difficult to write. Sadly finding her voice was all too easy. I like many have experience of a bullying man, although not as bad as Alexia. But it’s all too common. I helped a dear friend through a divorce and lived almost breath of her agony in trying to leave him, then trying to build her confidence back up. She is a very attractive woman and was instantly fighting off men, most of them who only wanted sex. She was very vulnerable and needing affection but also needing to be strong. I imagined what it would be like for someone as young and inexperienced as Alexia, trying to cope with all of this baggage, then being thrown into a lion’s den of a workplace.

This glamorous setting is not a world everyone gets to see or live in, but it’s great fun to watch! When people work in this kind of environment, things are far less hidden than in most people’s lives. The ambitions are naked, as are many of the people, who will get naked at a speed that makes most people’s head spin. They’re not slow in going for what they want, and it can be pretty raw. Most of us take our time working out how to deal with the men we find attractive or who show an interest in us, but I wanted the reader to feel what it’s like to be thrown into the fast lane, with all the insecurities and frailties we all have.

I’ve seen quite a few like Alexia in the workplace, like Bambi, sliding around on the ice while the hyenas are watching. She has needs like every woman, but how would she cope with that when the men around her are so predatory? She’s torn between two men, Tony, a womanising but charismatic guy who pursues her ruthlessly and Nathan, the owner of the agency. Nathan is an ex army officer who’s seen too much action. He’s charming and smooth but in a cool and detached way, not like Tony.

But I wanted to her to triumph, because there are nice guys out there, and the Nathan’s of this world, the books hero, can see what she’s worth.

I would love to go to some conventions this year, but sadly I can’t, my job is really full on at the moment.

I don’t really have a favourite romance genre as I love reading everything from the original queen of Romance, Jane Austen – to modern romance. Before embarking on this novel I hadn’t read very much erotic romance and I am now reading a lot more! I’m reading Sommer Marsden and KD Grace at the moment.

My favourite vacation spot is the Maldives. They’re fabulous islands in the Indian Ocean, where you can take your shoes off when you get there and not put them back on again until you leave. You stay in little bungalows on the shore and the weather and water temperature are constant most of the year round. Tropical heaven!

The most important event in my life so far? Well I guess it has to be meeting my wonderful man David. I have to pinch myself sometimes that I met him. Like all girls you wonder if you’ll ever meet the right guy when you’re kissing frogs, but I met him. In fact I almost fell over him! We met when I was out with friends and I walked through a door as he was coming the other way and ended up falling against him. I know it sounds like a Hollywood Rom-Com but it’s absolutely how it happened. He grabbed me and when I steadied myself and looked up from the chest I was clinging to – there he was! Bright blue eyes that were looking at me with a great deal of amusement. I was so stunned I don’t think I made any sense when he spoke to me. I walked away thinking Oh God, he must think I’m an idiot. Luckily he didn’t. He asked me out and this time I wore lower heels. I didn’t want him to think I was a disaster zone!

Boxers or Brief

Briefs

Manscape or Not

Not Manscape.

Lights On or Lights Off

Lights On

Summer or Winter

Winter

Peanuts or Chocolate

Chocolate

Batman or Superman

Batman

The Voice or American Idol

The Voice

Christmas or Birthday

Christmas

Heels or Flats

Either, if they’re pretty

Talk or Text

Talk!

Action Movie or Comedy

Comedy

Facebook or Twitter

Facebook

About Isobel

Isobel Rey is a Cambridge graduate. After interning at a stage/film talent agency, Isobel now works at a London advertising agency. This is her debut novel. Originally from Surrey, Isobel lives in London with her partner and a one-eared rescue cat called Thumper.